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My swollen lip wants to know

Anybody know why babies like to headbutt?

Yeah, that could work, too

Since about three o’clock, the Bug has been on the fuss bus. Nothing could make her happy. We went for a walk, we played, we read books, but no matter what I tried, she screamed. And while screaming at home is bad enough, screaming in an office is terrible. And on top of that, I could see the piles of work on my desk growing deeper.

Finally, at four, I gave in and took her home. If she’s going to be fussy, I’m going to be at home.

When we got here, the Bug just wanted to be held. After a while of just sitting in my lap, she wanted down … to fuss some more. And fuss she did.

Finally, Katie called to let me know she was running late. She could hear the stress in my voice - and the baby’s screams. She asked “why don’t you try feeding her?” The thought had not occurred to me.

She’s still in a pretty fussy mood, but clearly she was starving. I guess it’s a developmental thing. All I can say is I’m glad people grow out of screaming whenever they’re unhappy. That’d get really old by the they got to middle school. And it’d make job interviews really uncomfortable.

Learning “no”

I’m amazed that C is actually grasping the concept of “no.” She’s not yet retaining much of what she’s not supposed to do, but when I notice her playing with the trashcan, for instance, or some files on a low shelf, I say “no, C, don’t play with that.” She looks up at me and does what I ask.

We’ll see how long this lasts, right?

What, me sleep?

It all started on Friday. The Bug had a good nap in the morning, lasting about 45 minutes. Then when I tried to put her down for a nap in the afternoon - she was already asleep - she started screaming when she touched the mattress. I got her back to sleep on my lap and tried again the transfer to the bed, and once again I got screams. C and I ended the day on Friday sans nap.

This morning I tried to look past Friday’s lack of naps. The Bug fell happily asleep in my lap around 10. I did what I always did; I picked her up and put her gently down in her bed.

Screams.

I tried getting her back to sleep, but she was now wide awake. A new tactic was required.

I gave up on sleep for the moment and took C for a nice, thirty minute walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I gave her a bottle, and she drifted gently off to sleep. She was down for the count. I waited about ten minutes, and tried again to put her in bed.

Screams.

She’s now playing happily at my feet (perhaps she doesn’t need sleep so much right now?). She loves the board books.

Well, at least we’re making progress with “no.”

I know she’s just learning, but

The Bug is playing with different sounds. She babbles, she jabbers, and she generally makes adorable noises left and right.

But one of the noises gets me out of my chair each time I hear it. She’s been playing with making noises while sucking in air. It makes her sound like she’s suffocating or choking or wheezing or some such, and every time I hear it I freak a bit.

Yikes.

She walks!

Not on her own, of course, and she often gets distracted by just about anything and plops down where she’s standing, but it still counts.

The Bug is all about walking, and it’s super cute. The only thing is that C is a pretty small little kid - she’s only 10 months old, after all. It requires a lot of leaning over to walk her. And you have to use a pretty wide gate not to step on her cute little feet.

Anybody know of a good masseuse?

(just kidding!)

I figured out how she stands up

The Bug kept standing up in her pack n play, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how she was doing it. Every time I turned around, she’d be standing up.

Well, it turns out she would shift to her knees, and from there she could reach the top rail and just pull herself up.

Interestingly, though, she still can’t sit up on her own. Whenever she ends up on her back or tummy, she fusses (not necessarily immediately, of course) until we put her in a sitting position. From there, the possibilities are endless.

She did it again!

I can’t quite figure out how the Bug is standing on her own in her pack n play, but it’s pretty dern cute.

One of these days, I’m going to catch her doing it, too.

Sometimes babies get easier

The Bug is now sitting pretty reliably by herself.

She’s been able to sit for several months now, but you always had to keep her from flopping over and hurting herself. It is way easier to coordinate her now that you can plop her in the floor with a toy and know that she won’t end up bonking her head.

This morning I was able to set her down near our front door while I finished getting ready for work. When I turned around after stuffing her clean diapers and changes of clothes in the car, I could see C happily sitting by herself, perfectly safe, entertained, and easy.

Baby naps

Like just about all babies, the Bug’s sleep patterns have changed a lot over the nine months that make up her life. Lately, Katie and I have found that she’s been taking really good naps at home on the weekends, although she’s nursing a lot at nights to make up for not being with her mama during the day. At home, the Bug often gets at least one nap a day that is several hours long in addition to other shorter naps.

Elsewhere, things are different. At my work, where her bed is in the corner of my office, she tends to sleep a consistent thirty minutes in the morning, and her afternoon naps vary from nonexistent to an hour or so.

The real cuteness happens at my mother’s house, though. The Bug is blessed to get to spend a couple of days a week with her Mimi. On those days, she rarely sleeps unless held. You can try putting her down and she will fuss, but if you can let yourself go (pick up a book, watch television, take a nap), she will sleep in your arms for two or three hours.

I just love being able to kick back and hold the baby as she sleeps. There are few things greater than holding a lightly snoring baby in your lap. I alternate between jealousy of the time my mom gets with the sleeping Bug and wanting to apologize to her for C keeping her from getting anything done while she sleeps.

Mostly it’s jealousy.